Shantanu Narayen - Adobe InDesign Review Adobe Creative Suite The Enterprise World
  • CEO: Shantanu Narayen
  • Founded: 1999
  • Headquarters: San Jose, California
  • No. of Employees: 1,700+
  • Website: www.adobe.com

Adobe InDesign Review

Overview

Adobe InDesign is a page layout designing software and desktop publishing application produced by Adobe Inc. It can be used to design stunning personal business cards and create company posters, resumes, brochures, magazines, etc. It is the ultimate page design app for any creation. It exports documents in Adobe’s Portable Document Format (PDF). It supports multiple languages and it was the first native Mac OS X publishing software. Adobe InDesign provides advanced typography with Open Type Fonts. Its later versions introduced new file formats.

History of Adobe InDesign

Adobe InDesign is the successor of PageMaker which was acquired in 1994 by buying Aldus.  

It received a boost in the market of distribution through bundling with Photoshop, Illustrator, and Acrobat in the Creative Suite. Adobe developed InDesign CS3 (Creative Suit 3) as universal binary software which is compatible with native intel and Power PC Mac machines. Adobe will be the first with a complete line of versatile applications. It came to be the first DTP application to support Unicode for text processing where advanced transparency features were used.

Features

Adobe InDesign has specific use and properties that differentiate it from other competitors in the market. Its unique features provide a unique identity to it which is helpful for every designer for flawless work.  Here is the list of unique features of Adobe InDesign: 

  1. Master Page Function: InDesign could be a default software if any project needs a multi-page design publication. It provides a master page function by automatically putting pages in serial numbers. This process allows users to edit numerous pages in a single edit.
  2. Resizing Content in Frames: Resizing content is a vital part of InDesign. It could be beneficial for completing projects if the size of the content can be changed independently of the frame size. Adobe InDesign makes sure that content maintains the integrity of images and alters publications appropriately.
  3. Interactivity: InDesign can easily design a form and can export it directly to PDF. It becomes easier to represent designs through slideshow, e-books, animations, pdf, etc. Therefore, there is no need for any other specific application to convert documents in different formats.
  4. Content Conveyor: The content placer and content collector both are crucial parts of InDesign. A content collector tool can easily replicate the content of any shape, object, or image. It collects the content into the panel and the role of the content placer tool is to establish the content within the several documents.
  5. Text frame fitting: To adjust a text in a particular frame could be a tough job. However, Adobe InDesign offers flexibility to adjust the width and column options. With the help of these features, it becomes easier to edit and resize the columns, and margins anytime.

Pros and Cons of using Adobe InDesign

Like every other software tool, Adobe InDesign has its pros and cons. Take a look: 

Pros

Cons 

Layering: A plus point for Adobe InDesign as compared to Microsoft Word. 

Crashes: Issues with product crashing remains constant. 

Master Pages: It takes Adobe InDesign Styling a little bit ahead while designing. 

Incompatible Versions: New Version is incompatible with old documents. 

Cloud Libraries: Adobe InDesign gives access to multiple people at the same time. 

Complicated: The tool can’t be used to train a coworker or fresher. 

Image Placement: It gives a perfect balance of layout and image placement. 

Expensive: The software is expensive and sometimes shows glitches. 

Collaboration Tools: It supports streamlining content creation while working with the team. 

Difficult to understand: Proper training is required to learn the tool. 

Customer Reviews

Adobe InDesign provides digital documents like flyers, posters, and other types of media reports with rich graphics and images. Here are the most recent customer reviews of Adobe InDesign:

Ruchika Save (Graphic Designer)
★★★★★
Ease of creating printable booklets
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Adobe InDesign is a perfect pick for designing and publishing layouts. I almost use this software daily in my work to present ideas creatively. It is best suited for organizing content and is used to make most print and digital stuff. Integrates seamlessly with Adobe creative suite.
Allie Egerer (Marketing Operations Manager)
★★★★★
The Go-To Software for Designing Intricate and Complex Documents
Read More
Adobe InDesign is currently being used in our company to create and/or receive design files for our clients' direct mail needs, this mostly includes forms and envelopes. We also use it to create the copy decks for the direct mail we send out. The software is only used by our Marketing and Lettershop departments. The reason we choose Adobe InDesign over other products is because of its complexity and because of its standardization in the industry.

FAQs

InDesign is a desktop publishing and page layout designing software application that is produced by Adobe Inc. It helps to create brochures, magazines, posters, etc.

The latest version of Adobe InDesign is Version 18.3 which came to the market in April 2023. It provides fixes for stability, performance issues, and functionalities.

It is not completely free, however, Adobe InDesign provides a 7-day free trial in which you can use all features and updates of the tool.

Pricing

Adobe InDesign does not have a free plan, however, it offers a free trial for clients. The Creativity and design plans for business teams are as follows:

  • For creative cloud apps: US$84.99 per month (20+ Creative Cloud apps available)
  • For Single App: US$35.99 per month
  • For Substance 3D Collection: US$99.99 per month

*Terms and Conditions Apply.